A Tale of Two Cardigans
My Sister Knits has not one but two delicate vintage-look cardigans on display! They are gorgeous, of course! Wearing either of them, you can imagine yourself in an Audrey Hepburn movie! Part of this is the pattern and part of it is the yarn used. These basic cardigans can take on many different looks, depending on the yarn used.
Both of these sweaters are designed by Petite Knit but the construction is different.
Copenhagen Cardigan
The Copenhagen Cardigan has brilliant front edges that are created while you knit the body of the sweater! German Short Rows are used to create the neckline shaping. Another brilliant design element is that the neckband is also knit with the yoke! Plus, the icing on the cake, the pockets! Specific, detailed instructions are given for the afterthought pockets.
Our sample is knit with Sandnes Garn Sunday and CaMaRose Midnatssol. We don’t have our Sunday shipment yet because we’re waiting on a specific color to be available. As soon as it is, our shipment will be on its way! Never fear, we have another option for you! Knitting for Olive Merino and Soft Silk Mohair could be used. Midnatssol could also be used instead of Soft Silk Mohair; it depends on how closely you want your colors to match.
Maggie Cardigan
The Maggie Cardigan has a different shoulder construction that includes stitches that are picked up and knit along the slanted top of the back yoke. Stitches are also picked up and knit for the front bands and neckline. Mette gives exact calculations for buttonhole placement which makes that stress-free. It also provides for a polished finished look.
This sample is knit with Kaos Organic Soft Merino and Brushed Alpaca.
Both of these sweaters use the Italian Bind Off. The big question here is: are the Italian Bind Off and the Italian Tubular Bind Off the same? In looking at Petite Knits’ Italian Bind Off video, it seems that it is the same as the Italian Tubular Bind Off. Now, you may be asking yourself another question: is the Tubular Bind Off the same as the Italian Bind Off? And does it matter? I’m not an expert on bind offs but I do know that a sweater I made recently had me do the actual binding off part without the ‘tubular’ part. The tubular part consists of knitting a couple of set-up rows and then doing the actual binding off. The binding off part is a sewn bind off with a tapestry needle. If you haven’t done this, I highly recommend it! You get a great feeling of satisfaction and it looks great. However, set aside some time with no distractions until you can ‘read’ what you’re doing. Have I thoroughly confused you yet? If so, my job here is done!
We invite you in to see these lovely cardis. Look carefully at both of them to see the construction differences! Then browse the yarns to see what color you might like to use!
Happy knitting,
